Lucas County vs Palo Alto County

A side-by-side comparison of Lucas County and Palo Alto County: population, income, housing, and more.

Lucas County and Palo Alto County are counties in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Palo Alto County has the higher population (8,902 vs 8,685 in Lucas County). Palo Alto County has the higher median household income ($68,963 vs $67,921 in Lucas County). Palo Alto County has the higher median home value ($119,300 vs $117,000 in Lucas County).

Population, income & housing

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
Population	8,685	8,902
Median age	43.3 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$67,921	$68,963
Median home value	$117,000	$119,300
Median gross rent	$738	$599
Housing units	4,077	4,517
Homeownership rate	81.1%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.5%	20.5%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
Population	8,583 → 8,685 (+1.2%)	9,003 → 8,902 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$55,205 → $67,921 (+23.0%)	$52,932 → $68,963 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$96,400 → $117,000 (+21.4%)	$102,200 → $119,300 (+16.7%)
Median gross rent	$664 → $738 (+11.1%)	$580 → $599 (+3.3%)

Lucas County

Population

8,5838,685

Median household income

$55,205$67,921

Median home value

$96,400$117,000

Median gross rent

$664$738

Palo Alto County

Population

9,0038,902

Median household income

$52,932$68,963

Median home value

$102,200$119,300

Median gross rent

$580$599

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
Under 5	6.0%	6.1%
5 to 17	17.0%	17.3%
18 to 24	6.8%	8.3%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.7%
35 to 44	10.5%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.1%
55 to 64	15.8%	13.8%
65 to 74	12.4%	12.0%
75 and over	9.2%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.5%	91.6%
Black or African American	0.2%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
No high school diploma	7.5%	6.1%
High school graduate	47.3%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree	9.9%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
Drove alone	81.1%	77.1%
Carpooled	9.1%	10.0%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	2.3%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.4%	6.2%
Other means	1.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
1-unit, detached	84.0%	84.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	5.4%
20 or more units	6.9%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Lucas County	Palo Alto County
Poverty rate	16.5%	11.7%
Average household size	2.34	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1964	1957